Miyake is doing rolls with admirable restraint. He eschews syrupy sauces for a tiny dollop of bright red plum sauce. In place of the minty sprigs of kinome you find in Japan, he sprinkled peppery sprouts of radish that cut though the fattiness of the seared salmon in the “salmon lady roll.” The “Masa spicy tuna roll” did not have so much chili as to overwhelm the smoky smell and charred flavor of the seared yellowtail on top. The runny tiramisu made with green tea powder is the best dessert I have had in a sushi place in a while.

To enjoy Food Factory Miyake there is no need for a garrulous inquisitiveness that would shock sushi’s original patrons — the Edo-period elite who played an after-dinner game in which they revealed their guesses about what the chef had given them to eat. Rather than seeking spontaneous seminars, dinner at chef-owned spots like Miyake or King of the Roll can resemble another Japanese game, described by Proust in Recherche, in which indistinct balls of paper are placed in water and unwind into unexpected shapes as they moisten. So should we, at the sushi bar, just soak it in and see what emerges.

Strong brew At microbreweries throughout the city, though, barley wines are intended to be sipped straight — no chaser, no frills, no dilution, no apologies. When made meticulously enough, barley wine needs little embellishment.

Cattle call Does anyone else find it ironic that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is treating human beings like pieces of meat?

Pair to dream I asked some local experts: Daniel Bruce, and Jeannie Rogers.

Copia Mediterranean Steakhouse I thought that Mezé Estiatorio, the previous restaurant in this space, was so good it was going to start a trend of upscale Greek restaurants. But the dining public apparently did not support me, or got lost trying to get to Charlestown.

River Gods I’ve gotten over the novelty of Irish bars with good food, but River Gods is a novelty in so many other directions, I think it could only happen in Cambridge.

Cold comfort Like any good codependent, frozen food’s effects are soporific. It prolongs and deepens our suffering even as it makes it bearable.

Uni Sashimi Bar’s Sakuramasu Go to the Eliot Hotel’s Uni and, unless you’ve spent time working as a fish buyer in Japan, you’re going to see things on the menu that you’ve never heard of, let alone eaten.

Taqueria El Carrizal Central and South American dishes and Mexican tacos favored by Latino patrons seem close to Allston’s authentically minded spirit.

Tofu is too fun To the uninitiated, tofu really is not much to write home about.

LIMITS OF LANGUAGE | November 03, 2014 Is it enlightened or provincial that we Mainers hear “ethnic” and don’t think, as many do, exclusively of non-Europeans?

INFINITE BROOKLYNS | October 24, 2014 Last year some national magazine said that Biddeford is to Portland as Brooklyn is to New York. No. Biddeford is a mash-up of Newburg and Poughkeepsie. It is East Bayside that is our Brooklyn.

START DIGGING HERE | October 03, 2014 Because music is now basically free (thanks to torrents, Pandoras, Spotifies, etc.), the only way for musicians to make money is through constant touring and related merchandise sales. Or they can appear as a judge on The Voice. Food, on the other hand, will still cost ya...

PICK YOUR POISON | October 01, 2014 The National Institutes of Health just published a randomized study that confirms the rumors: carbohydrates are poison and should be avoided. So how should we feel about Slab Sicilian Streetfood?

A LITTLE WHINE | September 05, 2014 The lessons of Lolita are that something simpler and less challenging can be lovely, and that some cheap wine could really loosen things up.